


A Lost Wolf

by ShadowArtemis4456



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe- Some Canon Divergence, F/M, My muses refuse to behave, OC is a human experiment, OC is different, OC just wants to be normal, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-08-21 01:18:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16566827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowArtemis4456/pseuds/ShadowArtemis4456
Summary: Artemis (or rather Experiment number 375) never wanted to be different, she neverWANTEDto be a human experiment who just so happens to have the ears (and yes tail too) of a wolf but all that was decided for her the moment she was conceived by a woman who was paid to allow her child to be experimented on while in the womb. But after years of wishing to be free of those who did this to her, the last place she expected to be was sent to a place she knew nothing about because of an explosion. Now stuck in a world where she must hide herself from the outside world, she longs for the comforts of where she was once being kept safe.Commander Cullen could never, in his entire life, have imagined meeting someone like Artemis. But when they first meet its not love at first sight as he sees her being shoved through a portal. However after an attack by a demon and upon learning what she really is and the reason WHY she is that way, he takes pity on her and swears to keep her secret a secret. But with the Inner Circle being so tightly knit? Nothing stays hidden from the others for long.





	1. Prologue

Blue eyes looked towards a whitewashed ceiling as their owner, a young woman around the age of twenty-four, stared blankly at it before pulling her knees close and resting her forehead on them. A sigh escaped her as what looked to be a tail curled around her cold toes while soft furry ebony colored wolf-like ears folded back tightly against her head before flicking forward as she heard someone approaching her “room” which was actually nothing more then a containment cell, designed to look like the average everyday room. Lifting her head, she bared her teeth to reveal sharp canines on both top and bottom jaws and growled low before covering her teeth once more as the voices grew closer only to stop just outside her “door” and she noted that there was a different group of people come to look at her and the others she knew lived here to. “And this is Experiment 375, Also know as Artemis.” 

“What is she mixed with?” 

“Experiment 375 is our attempt at creating a true Human-Wolf hybrid. She has the senses, ears and tail of a wolf, but still looks fully human!” The young woman flicked an ear back as she listened to the man speaking about her as if she was some trophy he had hung up on the wall to show off. 

“Can she speak?” 

“Oh yes! She knows the full English alphabet and can speak it fluently, she knows some algebraic math and is very polite!” 

Artemis continued to watch the group carefully, studying each one until her gaze landed on a woman with flaming red hair, and bright mossy green eyes that were watching her closely and very cery carefully. “Why is she locked up?” 

The man frowned as he looked towards Artemis who chose that moment to turn away and snatch up her art book and colored pencils. “She’s not locked up, she was attacked the other day by Experiment 237 and thus needs to allow her wounds to heal. Speaking of, Artemis, dear? Are you alright?” 

Artemis looked towards the man and frowned, “I’m fine.” She replied as he looked towards her worriedly. “Maybe a bit thirsty and a little hungry, but otherwise I’m okay.” The man nodded and pressed a few buttons on the wall near the door, before nodding to her and leading the group away with the red-haired woman lingering for a few seconds. 

“Soon Artemis, you’ll be free.” She told Artemis who looked towards her with wide eyes before seeing her walk away. 

“How...” Artemis couldn’t manage to voice her other words as she was baffled in the wonder of how the woman had just seemed to know what she wanted. Shaking her head, Artemis returned to her drawing before hearing the door slid open as someone came walking in. 

“Hello sweety,” Artemis looked up and felt her tail wag as she saw her second favorite person walking up to her. “Heard my favorite little wolf-girl was thirsty and hungry so we made your favorite!” The person brought in a tray from a cart which had a full course meal that had Artemis folding her ears back as she sniffed the air. 

“Smells delicious!” Artemis could already feel her mouth salivating at the aroma of her favorite meal as it was brought to her. Once it was set down on a rolling tray that was brought over to her Artemis spied not only her favorite meal (which was basically breakfast with eggs, bacon, biscuits and sausage gravy with a few pancakes on another plate) but also spotted some chocolate flavored milk (she was still a kid at heart) and some blueberry syrup to dump on her pancakes. She smiled as she saw all the food but knew she wouldnt be able to finish it all as she, unlike all the others in this place, didn’t have a fast working metabolism (it was a blessing in her eyes, yet also a curse as she felt guilty when she couldn’t finish an entire meal). “Also brought your antibiotics.” 

“How much do I have left?” 

“This is your last dosage.” 

“Really?” 

“Yes, sweety,” the man (who she could tell was interested in other men or at least she believed he was as he showed no interest in any of the other human females that haunted around this place) smiled warmly at her. “Tomorrow you go back to have the doctors take a look at the injury and then once your cleared you can go back to being social with the others.” 

“Okay,” Artemis nodded as she popped the pill into her mouth before taking a swift drink of her milk to wash it down, then she set to eating as the man left. Thinking over what she knew she was certainly glad she was in this “facility” as it was here that all of the “experiments” were treated kindly. As she ate she recalled the information she knew over in her head and frowned. There were a total of four hundred experiments in this building along, all with different names, all being hybrids between humans and animals. Half of the four hundred where mostly humaniods who looked more like their animal halves, while the other half of the four hundred looked more human in appearance apart from some details like having the ears and tails of their animal halves. But all had the animal level of senses and, unlike pure humans their sexual sense of needing to make could either be human-like with females having a “period” or the females could chose to enter “heat-cycles” where the need to mate and make babies was strongest without the whole “bleeding for a week thing. Artemis, for her part, had chosen to go with a “period” despite how sucky it was at times, but so far it had prevented any male from forcing her to mate and make a baby. She knew she could change it at anytime and would when she had reason to but right now she could deal with the painful cramps and bleeding (as well as the cravings for chocolate, fruits and crunchy stuff) so long as she wasn’t being forced to pick and choose a mate. After she had finished what she could of her meal she pushed the tray away and curled up on her side to take a small nap and was soon tucked tightly under her comforter and dreaming of whatever her imagination could drudge up from the recesses of her mind. As she slept she didn’t notice that the man who had beought the food to her come back for what was left over and smiled as he saw her curled up in a ball under her comforter.

Smiling softly, he stepped forward to brush some hair out of her face and shook his head as the woman with flaming hair came back, “How much longer does she have to wait?” 

“Not much longer,” the woman replied softly upon seeing a sleeping Artemis. “Give it until tomorrow afternoon, then she can be free of this place forever.” 

“I hope your right, My love. Artemis should be allowed to roam free, not be caged up like she is.” 

“She will be free soon,” The woman looked to the man, “then we will no longer have the need to use these forms.” 

“Very true,” the man turned back to Artemis. “They will struggle with what she is.” 

“Yes they will, but there is one who will accept her for WHO she is, once he discovers her story.” 

The man looked to her for a moment, “That one?” 

“Yes. He’s been through so much and so too has she. They need each other.” The woman walked forward and touched Artemis’s forehead. “It is sad that her mother was so willing to throw this one to this world’s government just for money.” 

“Humans do strange things, you should know that.” 

“I do but I cannot condone that woman’s actions.” 

“Artemis will be fine.” 

“I pray so.” 

****

The next day, Artemis was sitting out in the main “livingroom” with head resting against the arm of the couch as she toyed with a puzzlebox that she rather enjoyed trying to solve. Everyday the “caretakers” brought her a puzzlebox for her to solve and made sure to  hide something inside of it so she wouldn’t be discouraged. Stopping for a moment to yawn, Artemis returned to the box as the noise of the others echoed around her. Yet she wasn’t concerned with the others as she was fully enticed by the box which had the smell of lavender and honey coming from it and the minute she felt the part she figured to be the lid come loose she “whooped” and sat bolt upright as she opened it up to find some “lavender candy” awaiting her for her prize. Munching on the candy, Artemis almost missed the man who often brought her her food coming up to her. 

“Artemis?” 

“Hmn?” She looked up at him and he chuckled as how goofy she looked with her nose stuck INTO the box as she inhaled the scent of the candy of which there were none left. 

“Come with me sweety, there’s a new outfit we want you to try on.” 

“Okay?” She blinked but set the box aside to stand and follow the man as she began to pepper him with questions about the outfit. But the moment she saw it she begged to try it on and soon vanished into her bathroom to put it on and smiled as she walked out to put on the long cloak with it. 

“Pull the hood up and make sure it covers your ears.” The moment she did so, the man nodded and smiled but before he could speak again, Artemis’s head snapped to her left as the ground began to shake. “Looks like its time!” 

“Time?! Time for what?!” Artemis looked to him with wide eyes filled with fright. 

“For you to leave this place, sweety,” he smiled gently before opening a sickly green tear in her room. “Do not fret, my wife is awaiting you on the other side of this tear.” 

“What’s happening?!” 

“Your freedom.” The man said as he grabbed her and shoved her through the tear before closing it as Artemis fell into a watery like substance. 

“OOF!” Artemis grunted out before shaking her head and looking up to see the red-haired woman from the day before approaching. 

“Quickly! There’s not much time! Come with me!” She offered her hand down to Artemis, who took it swiftly as she helped the young woman to her feet and, still holding Artemis’s hand raced through this strange land to another tear. “I wish we had more time, Artemis. I would explain this all to you as I know you are confused and lost, but for now have faith in me and my beloved.” 

“Who are you?!” 

The woman smiled then, “I am Andraste, and you, Artemis, are going home to a place where you can be free.” Was all Artemis was told before the other woman shoved her through the tear causing her to fall on some snow and grunt once more. 

The moment Artemis stood and turned to address the woman she noted that the tear was gone and she was alone. Tucking her tail close to her leg, Artemis began to pray that all of this was just a strange dream but the moment she heard someone coming up behind her she jumped away from the person in fright and almost bared her fangs as she saw the flash of steel cross her vision before looking towards the owner of the steel (which she noted was a sword) to see a fair-haired man watching her with lion-like eyes. “What the fuck was that for?!” She snarled as she prepared to either run like hell or fight back as her mind worked out all the weaknesses in what little armor she saw him wearing. 

“What are you?” The man demanded of her as Artemis felt her hackles rising. She picked up his scent and noted that he smelled of oakmoss and, oddly, elderflower (a combination she would never expect to discover from a man). 

“Why do you care?” She retorted with her hidden ears folding back as her tail stiffened. But then she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye and the flicked quickly to whatever was approaching the man from behind and silently growled. Suddenly an idea struck her and she began to slowly move towards the right and he copied the motion, his golden lion like eyes watching her every move as they slowly circled each other. _One more step...just one more fucking step._ The moment he took that step she heard whatever it was that had been approaching him from behind lung forward with a snarl and leapt swiftly between them with an inhuman snarl of her own shocking the man as he realized that she had somehow seen the creature coming up behind him. 

The man watched the two in a stupor before a loud yelp escaped her as she was thrown away, as if she were a ragdoll, into a tree which in turn snapped him out of it and he rushed forward with a battle cry as he went after the creature, slaughtering it with ease as he took it by surprise. Turning to the young woman he saw her gripping her side and looked her over as she slowly made the attempt to stand. “You shouldn’t try to move!” He said rushing to her side to try and offer her help.” 

“Piss off!” She snarled at him as she used her hand to slap his away from her. 

“Let me help you,” he tried as she shot him a dark look. 

“I dont need help from someone who attempted to attack me right away without bothering to ask me anything first!” She snapped at him as he took a step back. 

“I...” She was right and he knew it. He had attempted to attack her without bothering to see if she was alright and had assumed her to be a danger. He looked back up at her and noticed the she fell to a knee with her face scrunched up in pain. “Please let me help you,” he asked earning her gaze falling in him as she studied him for a few moments. 

“And why should I?” She inquired, less hostile now. 

“You shouldn’t, and I haven’t given you a good reason to either...I just...” she watched him carefully then. Her hostility towards him ebbed a bit more but the voices of her caretakers echoed back and she frowned. 

“I can’t let you or anyone help me.” 

“Why?” 

“You’ve never seen anything like me.” 

“Like you? You’re human, aren’t you?” He asked as she shook her head. 

“I look mostly human, but Im only half-human,” she told him as she stood and leaneed back against a tree. 

“Then what are you?” 

She scoffed out a harsh laugh, “An abomination to all humanity,” she felt his confusion as his eyes scanned her as she stood and walked back out from under the shade of the trees that she had been in and back into the moonlight while he watched her very carefully. Turning to him she unclasped her hooded cloak from around her shoulder and held it in place with her hands. “This is what I am.” She told him as she closed her eyes and allowed the cloak to fall to the ground in a cresent, revealing her ears and tail to him while he cursed to whatever god he worshipped.


	2. One

“Maker’s breath! What are you?!” The man recoiled taking up his weapon of choice once more as Artemis studied him. 

“I just told you,” she reminded him, “I’m an abomination to all humanity. An experiment that should never have been allowed to live yet does.” She watched as he studied her carefully in the light of the moon (or rather moons) while she made no attempt to hide herself from his golden gaze. “You can’t help me because I shouldn’t even exist.” She told him before noticing how blurry the world around her was becoming. Looking to her side, she placed her hand on it and frowned but just before she could do or say anything more, her sight went black and she felt herself falling but she didn’t feel herself hit the ground (which would have been a soft landing because of the snow) as the man rushed forward the minute he had seen her eyes roll back as she fell unconscious from the loss of blood. 

Slowly kneeling after he caught her he noted that she was cleanly passed out, and could now study her a bit more closely. He was shocked to discover that the only other signs that she wasn’t human were her sharp canine teeth on top and bottom jaws but it was the fact that she had a tail that shook him. The ears and teeth he could deal with, the tail, however, was going to be difficult to accept. Looking her over for any other injuries, he was pleased to see that the only wound she had on herself was the one the creature had given her upon throwing her away like a discarded child’s toy. Turning his gaze to her cloak, the man reached over and pulled it up to wrap her in it as if it was a blanket. Stopping himself momentarily he began to wonder why he was doing this for her and looked towards her face.  "Only because you saw the demon before it attacked me," He muttered low before carefully scooping her up and began to carry her away from that area as the clouds rolled over the moons, blocking out their light.

****

Artemis felt something warm covering her as she came back into consciousness; blinking a few times as she managed to sit up she noted that she was in what she could only guess to be a building and felt an ear flick as she studied the room around her. It was warm due to the fire that was roaring in the hearth and smelled of herbs and some other things but her sight zeroed in on a man with his back turned to her and heard him speak. “I’m glad you have awoken,” he told her as she watched him turned to face her and study her. “The Commander has been worried, and I will admit, so have I.” 

“You were...worried...about me?” 

“Yes. The wound you received from trying to protect the Commander was deep and you had lost alot of blood,” the new man who stood before her studied her as she flicked an ear back. “Forgive me, I am Solas and if I may, who are you?” 

Artemis folded her ears back and swallowed as she thought that question over. “My name is Artemis,” She started as he brought her something to drink, which she took careful drinks of. “I’m...a...an experiment... of where I came from.” 

“An experiment?” 

“The ears and tail usually give me away as something that is not natural. I’m...an...abomination to nature itself. A human with the tail, ears, canine teeth and senses of a wolf...while the rest of me is human,” she dare not meet the man’s eyes but she could feel that he was studying her carefully. 

“How did you come to be this way?” 

“I...” Artemis frowned but sighed and told him everything that she knew of and watched his face turn from calmed to horrified to enraged before settling on sorrow as she explained it all. “...thus, I and about three-hundred ninety-nine others were kept in a place far from the rest of humanity. Because...we look like monsters... and they wouldn’t understand...” Artemis dropped her gaze while he shook his head. She felt him sit on the bed and lift her chin up with a surprisingly gentle hand and the moment her eyes met his, she could see his acceptance of her in his eyes and it confused her. 

“You are no monster, Da’len,” he smiled gently, “You are special and unique. You might have been an experiment where you can from but here everyone is alittle different.” 

“What do you mean?” She asked as he began telling her of what he was and the many different humaniods she would likely meet, but one word captured her attention, “Qunari?” 

“Yes, they are a race know for being taller then most other races, they are well-built and have horns on their heads. The one you will hear many call “The Herald” is one of the Qunari peoples.” 

“Just like how you are an...elf?” She had to question that word to make sure she had understood him correctly and he smiled. 

“Yes, Da’len,” he nodded eyes sparkling as he realized that she was a quick learner who was careful in how she questioned things. “Now tell me more about yourself, what do you classify yourself as?” 

She frowned about that and shook her head, “I don’t know... I never really gave that much though before...”

The man studied her carefully, “I will call you a...” but before he could fine that sentance a knock sounded at the door and she swiftly folded her ears flat against her head and tucked her tail tight against her legs. Solas reached out a hand and placed it on one of hers before standing and calling out for the person to enter. 

“Solas, is the young woman under your care awake yet?” 

“Indeed she is, Herald, but she is still quite frightened. I would advise using caution when asking her questions.” 

“If it would make both of you feel better you can remain Solas,” the man that entered the room was taller then any human male Artemis had ever seen, he was atleast six foot or more and the horns she saw sprouting from his head only added to his already great height, yet as she looked upon him, she felt no fear but rather she felt as if he would do anything and everything possible to keep her safe (though that didn’t stop her from feeling a bit dwarfed by his height). The minute his eyes landed on her she felt her ears stand up and he smiled. 

“Well you really are unique. I am Asak Adaar, and you are?” 

“Artemis.” She replied while still studying him. After speaking for a bit, and informing him of her background as a literal human experiment, she noted the emotions that rolled through his face echoed the ones that Solas had had when she had told him. 

“Well...here you won’t have to deal with that!” Asak growled low in a protective manner, “If anyone has an issue with what you are or how you look they will have to deal with me and I’m no pushover.” He declared as she wondered WHY he was so accepting of her. They spoke a bit longer and he was preparing to leave when he looked back towards her, “Artemis, when Solas clears you to be able to walk around, how about I show you around?” 

“I...I would appreciate that.” She nodded as Solas smiled, but after she curled up and fell back to sleep at Solas’s insistence. She felt a sense of not only safety, but also felt as if she finally had a place she could belong to.


	3. Two

Artemis sat watching and listening as Asak and his "Advisors" discussed what to do with her but it was at that moment Asak turned to her and frowned. "Artemis, I want to know something."

"What do you want to know?" She inquired as an ear flicked under her hood.

"More about you and your world. You told me something about the humans of your world dying out?"

"I made mention of it."

"Humans are dying out where you come from?" The man she had met originally, the Commander as she had come to learn, sounded shocked and she nodded. 

"Yes, they are." Artemis nodded before explaining. "To understand why I came about, I need to tell you the reason behind the decision to create those like me and...well...you may not like what you hear..." With that, she closed her eyes and began to explain.  "Where I come from long before any of those like me came around, my world was on the cusp of another golden age. Our advancements in technology were on the rise, we had medicines that could cure any disease known to humanity. But there was one thing that the medicine couldn't cure...infertility. At first, it was isolated cases, then it started becoming more and more common but it really hit hard when there was a sudden and completely unexpected volcanic eruption which wiped out over more half of the six or seven billion people," A shocked silence filled the room as those present absorbed this information none of them could imagine **_THAT_** many people living on just **_ONE_** world. 

"Seven billion people?!" Asak swore his jaw hit the ground at that. 

"Seven point seventy-something billion," Artemis nodded now that she remembered. "Like I said advancements in technology and medicines that could cure any disease."

"Holy shit!"  She wasn't sure who said that but closed her eyes again and continued with her explanation.

"Anyways...The governments of the world decided that due to the cataclysmic events and the growing rate of infertility it was time to look into other ways to preserve humanity and thus what they call the "Animal-Human Hybridization Project" was put into motion. At first, they used women who volunteered themselves but all of those hybrids resulted in humanoid looking creatures that looked more like animals than humans and there were a total of two hundred of those. Then they realized that to get us to look more human than animal they had to play with a person's DNA, the things that make up basically the human imprint and something I really don't want to get into as it would take too long to explain." 

"Is that how...?" Asak began as Artemis nodded. 

"It is... I was one of another two hundred experiments and thus in total, there were four hundred of us. But none of us have or had names."

"What?!" Five voices echoed in shock as she nodded sadly. 

"In truth Artemis _ISN'T_ my name at all as I have no name. It was just a "nickname" given to me when they felt too lazy to call me by what they normally did." 

"Which was?" The Commander frowned as she looked to him with an expression of such sorrow that he could swear his heart just about broke in half for her. 

"Experiment three-seventy-five." She watched as the Commander's anger, sorrow, and confusion all rolled through his eyes and face and not necessarily in that order, and she could see he wasn't the only one with those emotions showing on his face either. "They figured it would be easier to _NOT_ give us names as shortly after the fourth hundred person was born, they decided to take a different route to save humanity from extinction. After they made that decision, we hybrids were rounded up and placed in a huge building, to hide us away from the prying eyes of the outside world."

"But...how did you..."

"My mother..." Artemis shook her head. "She was paid by the governments to allow them to experiment with me from the moment I was conceived. After I was born, she abandoned me to them, leaving me to whatever they would do with me." No one dared speak, but the red-headed woman who had been introduced to Artemis as Leliana seemed to be struggling the most to hide her rage. 

"What about the others?"

"I can't say...By the time I was born they were already dying off and several of them were becoming unstable and were becoming feral. Those of us who are more human in appearance seem to be a bit more stable than our predecessors, but we still run the risk of becoming feral and highly dangerous." 

"But you don't seem like you could," Asak frowned as she shook her head. 

"The risk is still there," She informed him. 

"Could you be brought out of that state?"

"I don't know," Artemis shrugged. "All I've ever know is that when one of the other experiments started showing the signs of becoming Feral...they were taken away and never seen again." 

"What about your lifespan?" Leliana inquired as Artemis shrugged again.

"That depends on both the human and animal sides.  Some of us lived the lifespan of the human race, while others lived the lifespan of whatever animal was mixed in with us, sometimes it would be a mixture of the two." 

"What about you?" The Commander inquired, he was curious now.

"I think it would depend, I can't say for certain how much longer I will live for, I've already lived for..." Artemis stopped mid-sentence then, "twenty-fourish years?" 

"You don't know?"

"I was never really good at keeping track of time. I know I was born on the thirtieth day of the fifth month but any more than that, its a toss up.” 

“I hope you live for a long time,” Asak told her as Artemis looked towards him with shock on her face. Which was echoed by the others in the room. 

“Really?!” Artemis could barely believe what she had just heard. 

“So far you seem like a nice person. And now that you’re here, on Thedas, this might just be your chance to live a normal life, or well as normal as can be.” Asak smirked as she huffed out a chuckle. 

“Why does that sound like your indirectly saying “Welcome to the Everything’s Fucked Up Club”?” She smirked in return as he laughed. 

“Probably because it is,” He returned as she shook her head. She laughed, mostly to herself, before looking back towards him as he spoke again. "Anyways, before we get to carried away." 

"Too late for that..." someone muttered low which earned that person a look from Asak.

"Anyways... What do you plan on doing?"

"To be honest? I don't know. Before being shoved through that rift, portal, whatever the hell it was I had never left the facility, that doesn't, however, mean that I don't have the skills to be able to survive on my own. I'm probably better equipped and adapted _TO_ surviving on my own than the majority of the human race." she removed her hood to scratch at an itch that was starting to irritate her. "But because I'm not stupid, I will stay and aid the Inquisition, if you will have me." That shocked everyone into silence. 

"But...What all can you do?" 

Artemis smirked then, "I'm faster and stronger then the majority of the humans and Elves here, my senses are through the fucking roof, plus I'm a creature of habit and I pay attention to details. I'm sure you guys can find _SOMETHING_ for me to do." And find something for her they would, but only AFTER they made sure she was settled in.


End file.
